“On the afternoon of November 19, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that the attack on the arsenal of the main missile and artillery administration in the city of Karachev, Bryansk region of the Russian Federation, was allegedly carried out by the Armed Forces of Ukraine with ATACMS missiles.”, — write: www.pravda.com.ua
Source: Russian propaganda publications “RIA Novosti” and RBC with reference to the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation
Details: It is reported that the Armed Forces allegedly fired 6 ATACMS missiles “at a facility in the Bryansk region”.
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The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation assures that the calculations of the S-400 air defense system and the Pantsir anti-aircraft missile defense system shot down 5 ATACMS missiles and damaged 1.
RBC reports that “missile fragments fell on the technical territory of the military facility.” And that the fire that broke out was extinguished. According to the agency, there are no victims.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine previously reported that the Defense Forces attacked an ammunition depot in Karachev, Bryansk region of the Russian Federation.
The General Staff did not specify what type of weapons were used to strike the Russian arsenal, but stressed that as of 2:30 a.m. it recorded 12 secondary explosions and a detonation near the target.
The Counter-Disinformation Center previously reported that the warehouse contained artillery ammunition, including North Korean anti-aircraft missiles, anti-aircraft missiles, and ammunition for MLRS.
Why it matters: On November 17, The New York Times reported that the current US President Joe Biden for the first time allowed the Ukrainian military to use long-range ATACMS missiles to strike the territory of Russia.
On November 19, the head of the Kremlin, Vladimir Putin, approved Russia’s updated nuclear doctrine by decree, shortly after the White House authorized Ukraine to strike deep into the Russian Federation. One of the conditions for the use of nuclear weapons is called “ballistic missile launch”.
It is worth noting that Putin announced the expansion of the Russian doctrine of nuclear deterrence on September 25. At the time, the head of the Kremlin said that a nuclear response would follow “reliable information about the launch of air-space attack means towards Russia.” Putin specified that he meant “strategic and tactical aircraft, cruise missiles, drones, hypersonic and other aircraft.”
After that, Ukrainian drones attacked Russia at least several times. After one of the most massive attacks, Russian mass media asked Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov whether Russia would respond with nuclear weapons to these attacks (in particular, against the background of talks about a change in Russia’s nuclear doctrine).
Peskov replied that “there is no need to excessively appeal to this document.”
It will be recalled that since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Russia has repeatedly announced various “red lines”, the violation of which will allegedly lead to a response with nuclear weapons.
The “red lines” at various times referred to Leopard tanks, Western missiles, F-16 fighters, and more.
Ukraine has repeatedly crossed these so-called “red lines” of the Kremlin. But even the entry of Ukrainian troops into Russian territory and the keeping of hundreds of Russian settlements under the control of the Armed Forces did not lead to any fundamentally new reaction of Russia in response to such actions.
Russian ruler Vladimir Putin first chose a strategy of not noticing what was happening, and then tried in every possible way to downplay the significance of the seizure of Russian territories by the Ukrainian army.
Also, the Russian authorities and propagandist media decided not to notice Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian airfields and ammunition depots – after each new attack, they only write about the fact that air defense has allegedly shot down dozens of drones, and never comment on the destruction or losses.
For reference: American ATACMS missiles, depending on the modification, can have a range of 140 to 300 km.